Disciplinary moves against the three Ulster Unionist MPs who resigned the party whip are on hold pending moves aimed at solving the crisis within the party.
Officers of the party met yesterday at UUP headquarters in Belfast to select a disciplinary committee, and to set a date for it to consider punishment for Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, Mr David Burnside and the Rev Martin Smyth.
However, in a potentially significant development, the meeting deferred sending the cases of the three MPs to the disciplinary committee for its consideration.
A consultative period of up to three weeks will now be taken which may facilitate efforts to heal the divisions within the party.
The party officers group, which includes Mr Donaldson and Mr Smyth, who is also party president, issued a statement after lengthy talks last night.
Issued in Mr Smyth's name, the statement said: "At their meeting today, the Ulster Unionist Party officer team selected a disciplinary committee. The officers deferred making a formal referral to the disciplinary committee concerning MPs Smyth, Donaldson and Burnside until a further meeting of the officers is convened within the next three weeks when any further developments will be considered."
There was no other official comment, and no party officer was prepared to take questions.
However, sources indicated to The Irish Times that the statement was in keeping with a compromise line suggested by Sir Reg Empey, a key Trimble loyalist, at a previous officers' meeting.
The agreement to defer the next stage in disciplinary proceedings pending "further developments" allows both sides to step back from toe-to-toe confrontation without losing face - at least in the short-term.
A short delay may also support efforts by the party leadership to seek some form of alteration to proposals agreed by the British and Irish governments for an International Monitoring Body (IMB).
The three MPs see the body, which will have an Irish Government nominee, as a fundamental breach of unionist principles.
The body would be charged with monitoring the paramilitary ceasefires and, crucially, reporting on alleged breaches of commitments by parties under the Belfast Agreement.
Mr Donaldson and colleagues resigned the Westminster whip to oppose the measure forcefully, claiming that Dublin should have no overview role in the Assembly.
Last night's decision allows Mr David Trimble to claim he remains in pursuit of those he believes are defying his leadership while simultaneously creating vital space for attempts to secure common ground with the "Donaldson Three" before expulsion moves begin.
The conflict in the Ulster Unionist Party is affecting plans by the two governments for Assembly elections, twice postponed, to be held in the autumn, as Dublin and London want.
Although not admitted openly, British sources say there can be no elections to any body until the electorate has some form of guarantee about its stability.